Previous owners

theroad

Quick question: I bought a car from a main dealer, sold as having one previous owner. I didn't check over the logbook before the sale, and when the new one came it was listed as having two previous owners. The sales guy said it might have been an unused pre reg when it was originally sold.

Do I have an leg to stand on here? I've had the car for almost a month now and it's fine, but obviously the number of previous owners will affect its re-sale value in the future. Is it possible to check the dates when the previous registrations changed? Thanks in advance...

Valetta

theroad wrote: »

Quick question: I bought a car from a main dealer, sold as having one previous owner. I didn't check over the logbook before the sale, and when the new one came it was listed as having two previous owners. The sales guy said it might have been an unused pre reg when it was originally sold.

Do I have an leg to stand on here? I've had the car for almost a month now and it's fine, but obviously the number of previous owners will affect its re-sale value in the future. Is it possible to check the dates when the previous registrations changed? Thanks in advance...

"One previous owner" would imply that there have been two owners to date: the current owner and the "one previous", so the dealer was correct, albeit slightly confusing.

bazz26

I would not worry about resale value, the older the car get the less relevant it becomes. Unless you plan to change in the next 12 months at which you will be taking a fair hit anyway.

theroad

Valetta wrote: »

"One previous owner" would imply that there have been two owners to date: the current owner and the "one previous", so the dealer was correct, albeit slightly confusing.

Thanks, I guess I wasn't clear enough. It was sold has having one owner from new, that is, one person bought it, ran it for 7 years and then traded it in. The sales guy was explicit on this point when I asked him. Therefore I was expecting to be the second owner, but according to the log book I'm the third owner. It just seems a little odd.

Atlantic Dawn

theroad wrote: »

Thanks, I guess I wasn't clear enough. It was sold has having one owner from new, that is, one person bought it, ran it for 7 years and then traded it in. The sales guy was explicit on this point when I asked him. Therefore I was expecting to be the second owner, but according to the log book I'm the third owner. It just seems a little odd.

Check the date in the logbook when the 2nd owner purchased the car that it's not a year or many months, also look for evidence that a dealer pre registered it. The car could have fallen off a transporter or crashed in it's first few months, you really don't know without proof.

bazz26

You could go back to the dealer and express your disappointment, you might get a free service or fuel voucher at best if they see it as a good will gesture towards you being a repeat customer but on a 7 year old car an extra owner on the log book will not make any difference to resale value so really it would be down to the generosity of the dealer.

theroad

Ok, thanks for all of that. Date of first licensing in IRL: 3 April '08. Date of registration in IRL: 28 March '08. I guess there's nothing to be concerned about.

colm_mcm

That just means it was regged in late March and first taxed in April.

patsyrockem

Can someone explain to me the term pre-reg. I notice a lot of cars for sale with that term. Thanks.

colm_mcm

Preregistration is where a dealer registers a car in the garages name.
1 owner on the car now.
They do this either to hit targets, or to get manufacturer rebates.
So, let's say your garage is in Limerick, this means the car will be 152-L-xxx
You live in Galway, but the car will still be L reg.
Garage taxes the car straight away-logbook comes in, ownership is changed into your name.
2 owners on the car now.

patsyrockem

Nothing to be concerned about if buying a pre-reg car?

colm_mcm

Nope. It's a new car.
I'm not sure if there would be any restrictions on financing. Eg whether you could do PCP or get a 0% deal on HP.
Something to look out for if financing, you might pay the money you save in interest.

Ref number of owners, when I did cars I didn't devalue a 2 owner car vs a 1 owner as tbh you wouldn't really get more for 1 owner.